Internal conversion coefficient

Description

Internal conversion is a radioactive decay process where an excited nucleus interacts electromagnetically with an electron in one of the lower atomic orbitals, causing the electron to be emitted (ejected) from the atom. In the internal conversion process, the wavefunction of an inner shell electron penetrates the nucleus and when this occurs, the electron may couple to the excited state of the nucleus and take the energy of the nuclear transition directly, without an intermediate gamma ray being first produced. The internal conversion coefficient describes the rate of internal conversion.